Two Theocratic Dons
I don’t normally venture into religious discussion, but I will do so today for two reasons — both named Don.
First, my fellow political opinion blogger hosted at LubbockOnline.com (Dr. Donald May) has launched into PART ELEVEN of his theocratic diatribe, and I feel obliged to point out that it’s getting way past ridiculous over there.
Secularism in government is essential for democracy to work. Our founding fathers knew this, and they created a system where any one religion does not dominate through the power of government. It’s this very concept that guarantees our freedom of religion in the US, and it should be celebrated even among the theocrats who enjoy that same freedom.
Without secularism, people get caned for drinking beer.
And speaking of beer, a second Don (Don Workman) is one of two parties who have submitted protest forms to the TABC to delay or defeat the sale of alcohol in Lubbock. Chad Hasty over at KFYO has been covering Don Workman’s petition to void or delay the availability of alcohol in Lubbock County (part one and part two) despite a two-to-one election result in favor of county-wide alcohol sales.
To learn about Don Workman’s possible motivation for delaying or denying alcohol sales in Lubbock, I did “the Google” and learned more than I ever wanted to know about the split between the General Baptist Convention of Texas and the “more doctrinally pure” Southern Baptist Convention of Texas, in which Workman played an active leadership role.
Incidentally, Workman recently wrote an A-J letter to the editor saying how wonderful Alberto Gonzales will be for Texas Tech:
I hate to take exception to all my fellow Red Raiders who have written letters to the A-J criticizing Albert Gonzales, but to the contrary, my experience with Mr. Gonzales has been excellent through my 15 years on the Texas Youth Council. He was always available, courteous, and quick with a response. He was a state employee who was consistent and reliable.
What kind of work might Workman have been doing while interacting with our state government? Here’s a quote from Don Workman at the 2nd annual Southern Baptists of Texas Convention in November 1999:
“We let your legislators know there are Southern Baptists in Texas who believe Scripture should be legislated,” he reported.
I have never met Mr. Workman or his wife, both active Republican Party leaders in the area, but those are the words of a theocrat. I believe Mr. Workman’s interpretation of scripture may be at odds with the results of the alcohol election in Lubbock County.
There are those who want to throw out our American systems of law and governance and replace them with their interpretation of a holy book. It just so happens that two of them are named Don and live in Lubbock.
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August 24th, 2009 at 2:50 pm
From the Treaty of Tripoli, signed into law by President John Adams, June 10, 1797:
“As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion; as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquility, of Mussulmen; and, as the said States never entered into any war, or act of hostility against any Mahometan nation, it is declared by the parties, that no pretext arising from religious opinions, shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries.”
It’s a treaty ratified by a United States Senate likely composed of a great many “founding fathers,” considering the constitution had been ratified less than a decade beforehand. No doubt a great many of those senators were also devout Christians, and yet we have no evidence of any great scandal caused by this wording. I’m just sayin.’
The Treaty of Tripoli
And to bring this all full circle, who was it that implored Thomas Jefferson to keep church out of the government, prompting the response letter in which Jefferson articulated “the wall of separation between church and state?” The Danbury Baptist Association.